But
Cashen, through a series of trades, turned the Mets from a doormat into a
perennial contender. Most famous was the deal on June 15, 1983 that sent Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey to
the Cardinals for first baseman Keith Hernandez, who had fallen out of favor in
St. Louis after disagreements with team management, notably Whitey Herzog.

In
another deal, Cashen—who was distinguished in part for wearing bow ties—traded
the popular Lee Mazzilli to Texas for two
pitchers, Walt Terrell and Ron Darling. Darling became a mainstay of the Mets’
1980s contenders, while Terrell was later traded for power-hitting
switch-hitter Howard Johnson.

The
Mets’ poor record also helped them get high draft choices. They drafted first
overall in Cashen’s first year as GM, in 1980, and drafted Darryl Strawberry with the pick. They signed
Strawberry for $210,000. They also snagged Dwight Gooden fifth overall in 1982.

Those
players, along with the stunning deal Cashen pulled at the 1984 Winter Meetings
for Expos all-star catcher Gary Carter,
culminated in the Mets’ World Series title in 1986.

Mack – Cashen was a good man and a great General Manager. He
will be sorely missed.

So
far, he has thrown 69 innings at AAA Las Vegas, but has missed time this year
due to a pair of injuries. The performance doesn't look amazing (5.35 ERA,
1.493 WHIP), but Las Vegas is known for being a hitters' paradise and the
peripherals look solid (71 K, 23 BB in 69 IP). He appears to have been a bit
unlucky so far, with a .359 BABIP and a strand rate of just 63% on the season.

At
this point, Syndergaard has moved into the middle of the Buy and Hold list, as
he could be called up within the next month or so. His potential performance in
the majors would rank him in the top 30-40 of starting pitchers over a full
season, and realistically should be owned as soon as he is called up in all
formats. He's currently blocked in the rotation by Jacob
deGrom and Daisuke Matsuzaka, and it
seems like the team will eventually replace one of them with Syndergaard. I can
see him producing a line with an ERA around 3.75, 80 strikeouts, and a 1.20
WHIP if he's called up by the All-Star break. I wouldn't grab him ahead of any
of the five players ahead of him on the Buy and Hold just yet, but he could be
in the top 3 by next week.

Mack – There’s not much of anything being written about
Syndergaard right now so it was nice to read something positive. Scouts say
don’t sweat everything you read. Syndergaard is loaded with pitching talent. As
for this season, I don’t expect you’ll see him until the team throws in the
towel. He’s going nowhere. Thor will be part of the future Mets rotation
throughout the decade.

Scouting
Latin America is a different animal. Teams are watching kids who are 15 and 16,
which already makes the projection more difficult to peg, before the reality
that many of the players are using false ages, steroids or both. There are
national and international tournaments, as well as trainer-organized games run
by the Dominican Prospect League and the International Prospect League, but
much of the scouting work is done by teams bringing players into their
academies, where teams can work players however they best see fit. A player who
looks great at one team’s academy for a week might go to another club’s academy
and struggle, leaving those organizations with two very different perceptions
of the player based on private information.

Mack –
This is a whole different animal. Imagine evaluating high school freshman and sophomores
that have never played a single game with proper equipment or on an infield
that isn’t covered with rocks and broken glass, And I haven’t even got to the
‘busteros’ (agents) that take these kids out of their family home when they are
around 12-13 and pump them up with false promises, bad steroids, and bogus visa
papers. This is the part of baseball that Sandy Alderson wants to go clean up
and, frankly, he’s got my vote to leave yesterday.

SP
Gabriel Ynoa’s promotion to the B-Mets rotation is a ‘good
start’. The rotations need to be cleaned out, starting with Giancarlo Alvarado, Joel Carreno, and any possibility of a return of John Lannon… woop… Lannon rehab siting on Monday night at St. Lucie:
3.1-IP, 2-ER, 1-K, 0-BB, ERA down to 17.18… the Greg Peavey promotion yesterday was a move in the right direction. I would
suggest Tyler Pill to be added… the first two promotions from the GCL Mets could
easily be CF John Mora (11-26, .423) and SP Blake Taylor (2-G, 6.2-IP, 0.00). The sample is small but keep an eye on both
these guys, especially the 21-yr. old Mora who is coming off a .310 2013 season
for the DSL Mets… Dustin Lawley had seven home runs and 18 RBI in June… I know that it seems
like 2B Dilson Herrera just stepped off the plane at the Binghamton airport (16-46,
.356/.408/.489/.897)… but these numbers just followed a stat line in St. Lucie
of 87-283, .307/.355/.410/.765. Did I say he just turned 20? Danny Muno at Las Vegas is not going to block this guy before the season
ends which opens up a whole new group scenarios that would involve Daniel Murphy.

15
comments:

1. Trade him while his value is high when you have Flores, Herrera and others in the pipeline.2. Sign him to a long term deal a'la Jon Niese and lock him up3. (Most likely) Do nothing, go to arbitration, piss off the player, then lose him as a free agent the following year.

If Murph can pull REAL value in a trade, they should do it. Flores will be good as a replacement, likely similar offensively and defensively after a 2014 adjustment period. And if Flores faltered, Muno or Reynolds might be ready by then.

Why can't our team spend some money somewhere? It gets worse by the day!!! I just read the baseball america top 30 international signings that they predict and the Skanks are signing about 12 of them. They are smart to load up on 1 year and face consequences for 2. They will probably net 10 more players then we do over the same time period. This is where chris young $$$$ should have went.We should just close up vegas and make citi our AAA team.

God bless Frank Cashen's soul. A GM with a heart. Some of the stories Keith told about him were just beautiful. A man who loved the game and the players, and took good care of both. Also a genius at rebuilding. He took over the Mets in 1980, and they almost won the pennant in 1984. Sandy should do half as good.

A) The international pool money is a set amount established by the MLB. Chris Young money has no effect of this.

B) Quantity < Quality. So what if the Yankees are forecasted to sign 13 IFA. They will be lucky if 1 pans out. If the Mets can continue to sign 2 Amed Rosario/Vicente Lupo/Ricardo Cespedes types on a yearly basis isn't that better than signing 13 guys that won't graduate past SS-A?

He is saying that the Yanks are the favorites to land 12 of the top 30 players. Not just sign 12 total. So they are going for Quality & Quantity and don't care how much they go over their allowed budget. They just won't be able to sign anyone next offseason.

Don't waste your time waiting for this team, this owner, this GM to change their ways. The Mets are NOT going to sign Murphy to some long term deal for the amount of money he is currently worth, which is a lot more than what Niese signed for.

Right now we have Syndergard, Verrett, Carreno, Alvarado, Gorski, Peavey in the rotation, with Montero on the DL. How about Cory Mazzoni when he's done with his rehab at High-A to take a rotation spot in Vegas as well. Alvarado, Carreno & Lannan as wasted roster SP spots at this point, especially with the direction we're trying to move in with younger talent.

Luis Mateo is the rehab tour, but I think he might be better suited to work in the pen for the remainder of this season to limit his innings and bring him back fresh in AA/AAA next year.

Tyler Pill & Matt Bowman should be next in line from AA after Thor gets promoted and something happens with Montero (promotion/trade). I'd like to see them build up Montero's value when he comes back healthy and put him in a package this offseason for a SS. Boy it would nice to have Jose Reyes on this team still at the top of the lineup!

Still think the team to look to trade,is Toronto!! They have pieces the Mets could use for the future. Dalton Pompey as a leadoff hitter and Daniel Norris LH starter. I agree Murphy is not going to be here longterm. Toronto is in need of a 2nd baseman and a lefty hitter.